Wiltshire People

Missing Culture – Where did the poorest people in Wiltshire live in times past?

on Wednesday, 06 March 2024. Posted in Architecture, Wiltshire People, Wiltshire Places

Wiltshire Buildings Record looks at all sorts of buildings in Wiltshire – from privies to palaces, but mostly manor houses, cottages, farmhouses and farm buildings with the occasional chapel, malthouse, or industrial building thrown in. These buildings are usually substantially built in brick, stone or timber, and give or take the odd fire or neglect, will still be standing in another 200 years’ time. But what about the houses of the poorest people in society? Where are they? Have any survived? The answer to this question is both yes and no.

The poor had few rights, and in years past, landless peasants, tramps, vagabonds and paupers were hounded out of a parish to become another’s problem. Poor rates were a burden, and the fewer mouths to feed, the better. In order to get poor relief, the destitute first had to gain a settlement in a parish. No wonder then, if a house could be erected between sundown and sunrise, the occupants had a right to live there. This was the ‘one-night house’ of folk legend. Variations on this theme were that the building had to have a roof to qualify, or that the chimney was in place and a fire was lit within. It sounds like an impossible feat. What must have happened in reality was that materials were readied in advance and strong arms recruited for an after-dark covert mission.

A Q&A from the Bishop

on Tuesday, 20 February 2024. Posted in Archives, Wiltshire People, Wiltshire Places

A new volume of the Wiltshire Record Society - Returns to the Bishop of Salisbury’s Visitation Enquiry 1864 - has been published and its author, our own Helen Taylor, introduces us to the clergy and communities it covers…

Bishop's Visitations
Meet the clergy
Services and congregations
Non-conformity and ‘dissent’
Education
Tell us your troubles…

Bishop's Visitations

The practice of episcopal visitations of English dioceses became widespread in the 13th century, partly to curb monastic abuses, but also to monitor the conduct of the clergy and laity. By the 15th century churchwardens were required to report problems of discipline in their parishes, and in the Elizabethan period questionnaires, described as ‘articles of inquiry’ were issued, and answered by churchwardens’ presentments. Alongside these presentments developed the practice of questioning the clergy. The 1864 return is the first of five, late-19th century returns that contain a wealth of information on the church buildings, patronage, clergy, their income, services, non-conformity, daily schools and Sunday schools in each of the churches in the Salisbury diocese.

By the 1820s the Church was in crisis. Attacks were mounted on its corruption, nepotism, income from livings to which no spiritual duties were attached and other financial abuses. The most notorious defect of the 18th-century church was pluralism, and the non-residence which resulted from it. Many livings were extremely poor; in Wiltshire at the close of the 17th century the average income was £80, just above the poverty line figure of £50 a year. By the early 19th century, £150 was considered the lowest salary acceptable for a reasonable standard of living. Salaries in the Salisbury diocese in 1867 ranged from a mere £22 at Ansty to £1250 pounds at Pewsey. The majority of the clergy were earning between £100 and £350.

Another reason for non-residence was the parsonage. Some parishes did not have a parsonage house, in others, it was not fit for habitation. In 1858, Bishop Hamilton noted 62 parishes in the Salisbury diocese without a resident incumbent. 27 of these held other benefices in the diocese, 13 had benefices in other dioceses, nine parishes had no residence and six clergy were suffering from ill-health. The pluralism problem took decades to solve, as once an incumbent was appointed, he was immovable until death.

Page with printed questions in top left and hand-written responses covering remainder of page
Example of Bishop's Visitation return WSHC ref D1/56/7

Book review: Small Earthquake In Wiltshire

on Thursday, 01 February 2024. Posted in Wiltshire People, Wiltshire Places

Small Earthquake In Wiltshire: seventeenth-century conflict and its resolution
By Eric L Jones
Hobnob Press 2017
Pages 111 Softback 

Wiltshire Library classification: AAA.946

The earthquake in the title of this slim volume is the author’s way of describing the Penruddock Rising of 1655. This event was a short lived capture of the city of Salisbury by troops raised by John Penruddock and other local landowners. These conspirators were Royalists and against Cromwell during this time of the Interregnum. The conspirators and their men were captured, and they suffered various fates at the hands of parliament. Execution, exile, sold into slavery, and loss of lands and wealth were among the punishments meted out, unless you were Francis Jones who fared better due to the marital connection he had with Cromwell.

The author takes this event as the starting point for his exploration of the time that this took place in. It takes a closer look at the family history of Francis Jones and how he escaped execution for his part in the Rising and of other landed families through advantageous marriages. Although this book is about an event and the repercussions of it in the Interregnum, it also covers the Restoration and how these families and their lands were treated by Charles II. There is also a very good chapter on the relationship between politics and religion and how poorly the non-conformists were treated and also a chapter on how the economy fared during this very unsettled period in this country’s history.

This is a book that looks beyond this one event to the wider horizon of the times and the lives of landed people at this difficult time.

Eileen Sutherland, Community History Advisor

Book review: Out Of Nazi Germany

on Friday, 10 November 2023. Posted in History Centre, Wiltshire People

Out Of Nazi Germany
By Heather Tanner & Dietrich Hanff
Impact Books 1995
58 pages Hardback
XTA.921

This is a true story that is both uplifting and incredibly tragic. It is the story of a young Jewish man fleeing from the Nazis in 1939 having to leave behind every member of his family; and the stalwart attempts by a couple to take him into their home and give him a desperately needed place of refuge.

Dietrich Hanff was aged 18 when he made his escape from Germany, which happened at the last possible moment before such journeys were made impossible. Robin and Heather Tanner were a couple in Kington Langley, Chippenham who, when they heard of his predicament through friends in the Quakers, desperately wanted to help him.

Bureaucracy, both in Germany and England made this a very difficult rescue indeed and both the Tanners and Dietrich were relieved when this was achieved.

This story is told in their own words, first by Dietrich and then Heather. Afterwards Gwyn Prins gives us an insight to what Dietrich’s life in England was like and how he was able to make a new life for himself. This short chapter explains how his life and career carried on and the impact he had on the people around him.

Though this is only a slim volume of 58 pages it packs an emotional punch and leaves the reader with the thoughts of how cruel man can be towards his fellow man but also how overwhelmingly kind.

Dietrich Hanff and Heather Tanner’s Out of Nazi Germany is available to view at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre or borrow via your local Wiltshire library, reference XTA.921.

Wren: Wiltshire's son?

on Tuesday, 31 October 2023. Posted in Architecture, Archives, Wiltshire People

As we approach the end of the tercentenary of Christopher Wren’s death in 1723, the Wiltshire Buildings Record briefly considers England’s great architect and his architectural contributions in the county.

Figure 1 Christopher Wren by Edward Pierce. Marble. 1673. © Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Christopher Wren was born here in Wiltshire but his formative years were spent in Windsor and Oxfordshire. He was born in October 1632 in East Knoyle in the south of the county. His father, Rector Wren (also Christopher), had been rector at Fonthill in the 1620s and then at East Knoyle. The Wren family only lived at East Knoyle for a few years before Rector Wren became the Dean of Windsor in 1634 (installed in 1635,) meaning Wren left Wiltshire when he would have been only a toddler. His life in Windsor ended in 1642 following an attack on the castle at the beginning of the Civil War. Wren senior moved his family to live with his daughter and her husband, Dr. William Holder (who was also a rector and doctor in arithmetic and geometry) at Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire.

Although there are no buildings in Wiltshire built by Wren’s own hand, he left his mark in the county in several ways including the following two; on a thorough survey of Salisbury Cathedral and a programme of works at Longleat.

Book Review: Mother and Murderer

on Tuesday, 29 August 2023. Posted in Wiltshire People, Wiltshire Tales

Mother and Murderer: The Sad True Tale of Rebecca Smith
By Sally Hendry
Hobnob Press 2022
112 pages Softback AAA.921

Rebecca Smith was born in May 1840 and was the sixth child of William and Sarah Prior. William was a yeoman farmer and though not wealthy was able to comfortably raise his family. The title of yeoman farmer lets us know he was a land owner and when he died in 1830 he left land in Westbury and Bratton. All this indicates a good standard of living for young Rebecca and her siblings. The Prior family were members of Bratton Baptist Chapel and by all accounts Rebecca was a godly woman who attended chapel and said her prayers.

Life for Rebecca took a downward turn when she married Philip Smith, a known drunkard and ne’er do well. Rebecca’s family opposed the marriage but nevertheless it took place. Rebecca went on to have 11 babies but only her first-born survived infancy. This family lived in dire poverty though helped by Rebecca’s siblings.

The family moved to Westbury, but all was not well, and Rebecca was accused of murdering her 11th child, a son Richard, using rat poison. While in prison Rebecca confessed to killing another 7 of her babies. Why?

This book is well illustrated and researched and deals with every aspect of this crime. The author explores not only this sad case but the context of the times when it occurred. We are shown in detail and description of the lives women would have lived then and the difficulties with health, poverty and destitution. It also illustrates the effects that alcohol had on many a poor family.

Although a slim volume it is a full and rich story which leaves the reader to make up their own mind as to why Rebecca committed this terrible crime and became the last woman to be hanged in this country for the infanticide of her own child.

Sally Hendry’s Mother and Murderer is available to view at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre or borrow via your local Wiltshire library, reference AAA.921.

Eileen Sutherland
Community History Advisor

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